Two interesting words that appear for the first time in the book of Alma are Gazelem (Alma 37:23) and Liahona (Alma 37:38). Possible meanings of these two words are given by Reynolds and Sjodahl as follows:
Gazelem is a name given to a servant of God. The word appears to have its roots in Gaz—a stone, and Aleim, a name of God as a revelator, or the interposer in the affairs of men. If this suggestion is correct, its roots admirably agree with its apparent meaning—a seer.Liahona. This interesting word is Hebrew with an Egyptian ending. It is the name which Lehi gave to the ball or director he found outside his tent the very day he began his long journey through the “wilderness” after his little company had rested for some time in the Valley of Lemuel. (1 Nephi 16:10; Alma 37:38)
L is a Hebrew preposition meaning “to,” and sometimes used to express the possessive case. Iah is a Hebrew abbreviated form of “Jehovah,” common in Hebrew names. On is the Hebrew name of the Egyptian “City of the Sun.” … L-iah-on means, therefore, literally, “To God is Light”; or, “of God is Light.” That is to say, God gives light, as does the Sun. The final a reminds us that the Egyptian form of the Hebrew name On is Annu, and that seems to be the form Lehi used. (Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4:162, 178.)